Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Comics Rock!

As a kid, I loved rock n' roll and comics with equal abandon. Both were gifts of escape; the comic books came from my older brother, the rock n' roll records were left behind by an American draft-dodger my parents had offered sanctuary. In both cases, I don't remember my first contact; the coloured pages and the black grooves were things I began picking up and exploring long before my permanent memories were formed.

By the earliest and most awkward phase of adolescence, comics and music both dominated my attention; I recall one summer that revolved around my love for both The Doors and The X-Men ("People are strange...").

But girls. As girls went from being bewildering remote creatures, to close but still bewildering creatures comics became a mark of immaturity that I could ill afford to bear. I never stopped reading comics entirely but I poured so much of my obsessive nature into music that there wasn't much left over. When I did visit comic shops, I was often put off by the gimmick-driven garishness of the nineties glut and then again by steroid-and-revenge addled comics of the post-9/11 era.

Things have changed, though. Nowadays, the women who matter to me consider comic books and rock n' roll albums as equally quaint. Rock n' roll, as I love it, is at a low ebb (and I survived the late eighties!) not dead by any means but still short of a few invigorating scenes or sounds. Comics, on the other hand are in a particularly strong phase with Marvel, Image and the always-dependable Fantagraphics putting out a fairly rich array of material. Plus there's the massive trove of material I missed since the eighties ended!

I'm a phase driven man, my obsessions wax and wane, so I think of this as just another of the never-ending shifts in my cultural proclivities. But the comics are back for the long run. So, dear readers, (are there any of you left?) you can expect some comic coverage on here from now till when I pack this blog away. But, worry not the life-ruining power of music will never be neglected here!

Now it's your turn, MRML readers, do you read comics? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section!

Comics are/were a big part of my life, though I've never liked much of the superhero stuff or been much of a completist, so I was rather eclectic in my tastes:

I think either Emergency! or an Adam-12 was my first book, but I can recall a caveman comic my gran read to me around 75/76 (Turok???), after that, I'd get an Oor Wullie or Broons annual sent every year. And any Uncle $crooge was also much loved!

Then in my early teens, it was all the Charlton and Commando war comics, with an occasional Sgt Rock/Sgt Fury and some Unknown Soldier, Jonah Hex and Swamp Thing until I collected all the Star Wars ones from the 'Empire Stikes Back' adaptation onwards. I seem to have gone in for a lot of movie adaptations too.

The last run of Epic Illustrated and Groo by Sergio Aragonés throughout junior high/high school and then some Reid Fleming - World's Toughest Milkman, Gregory & Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children from Piranha Press.

The two things I've collected for most of my life have been music and books, but for some reason I've never really been into comics. But this Epstein comic has me interested being a big Beatles fan and especially after recently seeing the Good Ol' Freda documentary.

I'm still checking in, jeffen, not much to say lately. I grew up with Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were amazing artists, even if I didn't really know it at the time. The story lines and characters were always superior than DC. I sold them all before high school, I thought I had "outgrown" comics. I try not to notice that what I had is now priced at $20-60 each in the comics store.

I started buying the independents in the '90's, I may have read about Love & Rockets somewhere and went straight to Fat Jack's Comic Crypt. The superheroes were ridiculous, every character looked like a steroid/HGH addicted freak. They all seemed to be way too angry and violent. I didn't buy the new Batman, that may have been a mistake. I'm drawn mainly to something different, and a sense of humor helps. A few good indies went away, there isn't much left now that interests me, and most are published annually. Some are only a few single issues that get republished as a trade paperback collection. "Rocketeer", "Hard Boiled" (Frank Miller & Geof Darrow), "Martha Washington", "Dalgoda", "Johnny Nemo", and "Destroyer Duck" were good ones.

The artwork always get my attention first, I don't bother with a poorly drawn comic. Charles Burns, Love & Rockets (mainly Jaime, who did a great Steve Ditko early on), P. Bagge's "Hate", Dan Clowes "Eightball" (the artwork's crude, but works with his stories), and Bob Burden's "Flaming Carrot" are my favorites. I really liked "Gearhead" on Arcana Comics, and I have the first issue of Brandon Graham's "Multiple Warheads"; Amazon has a few collections by him that look good.

One of my first real jobs was at a comics and games store in the late 1980s. I never really liked the mainstream superhero books, and tended strongly towards indies like Aircel and the rare (at the time) manga titles that made it out here. For some reason I did take an interest in Marvel's "New Universe" titles once the "New Universe" line totally failed. I'm looking forward to this new area of the blog's content.

Hi jeffen- I'm not sure if this came through last week, Safari seems to have issues with blog comments.

I'm still checking in, jeffen, not much to say lately. I grew up with Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were amazing artists, even if I didn't really know it at the time. The story lines and characters were always superior than DC. I sold them all before high school, I thought I had "outgrown" comics. I try not to notice that what I had is now priced at $20-60 each in the comics store.

I started buying the independents in the '90's, I may have read about Love & Rockets somewhere and went straight to Fat Jack's Comic Crypt. The superheroes were ridiculous, every character looked like a steroid/HGH addicted freak. They all seemed to be way too angry and violent. I didn't buy the new Batman, that may have been a mistake. I'm drawn mainly to something different, and a sense of humor helps. A few good indies went away, there isn't much left now that interests me, and most are published annually. Some are only a few single issues that get republished as a trade paperback collection. "Rocketeer", "Hard Boiled" (Frank Miller & Geof Darrow), "Martha Washington", "Dalgoda", "Johnny Nemo", and "Destroyer Duck" were good ones.

The artwork always get my attention first, I don't bother with a poorly drawn comic. Charles Burns, Love & Rockets (mainly Jaime, who did a great Steve Ditko early on), P. Bagge's "Hate", Dan Clowes "Eightball" (the artwork's crude, but works with his stories), and Bob Burden's "Flaming Carrot" are my favorites. I really liked "Gearhead" on Arcana Comics, and I have the first issue of Brandon Graham's "Multiple Warheads"; Amazon has a few collections by him that look good.

Hi,Just a word to say that Die or DIY? was deleted yesterday, but is now resurrected at http://dieordiy2.blogspot.comSo if you could create a new link to it i would be soooo appreciative.First posts today, following that a reposting of everything on the old blog,plus new stuff.Thanks.Jonny Zchivago

yep comics as in astro city / A new human twist on superheroes which is more about the person than the costume, 2000ad / still alive and kicking as i write the annual prog is on the shelf. charlies war / hardback reprints from the war comic battle a uk seventies/eighties weekly, very human tale of the horrors of world war one. thats my top 3 anyhow

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